Angels Micropub, Belper

A micro housed in a funny little building off the Market Place, a corridor leads eventually to a small room with a serving hatch. The beers are served by gravity in a chill room at the back, a blackboard above the hatch tells you the choice. A series of frames each contain pump clips from one of their regular breweries; Dancing Duck, Thornbridge, Lenton Lane, Blue Monkey and more, there’s a mural of the large local mill on one wall and a clutch of CAMRA awards on another. GBG listed.

Squeezed into a tiny, unassuming building just off Belper’s market Square, this is a cosy little micropub that was doing a roaring trade on my Saturday afternoon visit. The pub has a simple layout across a single, split level, bare boarded room with the servery close to the entrance and limited seating around the rest of the perimeter. Tables and chairs occupy the lower level, opposite the bar, whilst benches fill the upper section beneath a large mural of a local mill. Elsewhere, the décor includes a picture of the pub painted across one wall, a stuffed toy deer head and a large angel mural above the bar. The servery is essentially just a hatch, with all the beer poured from the barrel in a temperature-controlled taproom out the back. The pub was hosting a ‘Dark Beers Festival’ when I called in, so the place was packed out (which doesn’t take long in such close confines) with loads of beer tickers in evidence, plus larger groups who took up vast swathes of seating, creating a buzzing atmosphere, even a short time after opening. The cask options on this visit were extensive and obviously focussed on darker brews, with the range comprising Thornbridge Lowline and Jaipur, Oakham Citra, Little Critters Sleepy Badger, Brass Castle Fat Rascal, Wild Child Quintessential Confection, Titanic Plum Porter reserve, Blue Monkey Guerrilla Stout, Exmoor Beast, Ossett Treacle Stout Extra, Lenton Lane Seismic Activity, Navigation Siren’s Luring and Urban Chicken Urban Peaked, plus nine cider and perry options. Phew! In the end, I can’t recall which of these I ended up with, but I recall that it was in excellent condition and had this not been my first pub of the day, I might have been tempted to linger and try a few more. This struck me as a friendly, well run micropub that perhaps suffers a bit from its own success, as I was forced to stand awkwardly in the middle of the room, in lieu of anywhere else to sit or perch, so I ended up rushing my visit a bit and never felt all that relaxed here. That’s a shame, as it seems like a great place and should most definitely be on anyone’s itinerary if looking to check out some of the best pubs the town has to offer.

Not to be confused by the nearby (and more obvious) Angels flower shop, this micro-pub is located in a mews-like building just off the Market Place. Slightly split-level seating arrangement in the compact bar area, with a few more seats out in the side alleyway. With no handpumps on the counter, all seven real ales are served by gravity. I went for DCUK (£3.50), one of the two Dancing Duck beers, with a couple from Thornbridge and others from Oakham, Blue Monkey and Titanic.

Not in plain view from the Market Place but a sign did help us find it. Up a ramp and down a short corridor to the "bar". All the barrels are at the rear of the bar and there are no pumps or fonts on show. Blackboards above the bar list all the ales and ciders available. Jaipur was on form. This is a place I could happily return to.

Lovely micropub with a good choice of ales, plus ciders, wines, gins and juices all at reasonable prices. Comfortable seating inside, and a row of tables and seats outside too. Brewery choices were Driftwood Spa, Oakham, 3 Thornbridge beers, Bridgehouse, Titanic and Sarah Hughes. We enjoyed our Thornbridge Cortado and Bridgehouse Landlady beers.